494 
AUSTRALIAN NATIVE PLANTS. 
EXPERIMENTS ON THE TRANSVERSE STRENGTH OF THE Woop OF 
£. gontocalyx, by Baron Mueller and J. G. Luehmann. 
The 
specimens were 2ft. long, and 2in. square :— 
Deflection. Total | Specific Gravity. 
weight | Value of | 
required | strength, 
With to | 
the apparatus] At the crisis | break each somite! | Air-dried. | dary 
weighing | of breaking.| piece. 4BD? ; 
78o0lb. 
eee me > 
Inches. Inches Pounds. | 
.16 .50 2209 1658 948 | .807 
20 58 2050 1537 937 | .798 
A sample of /. goniocalyx timber (“ Spotted Gum ”’) from 
Victoria, in the Technological Museum, is of a light-brown colour, 
straight in the grain, good to work, and free from gum-veins. 
Another slab, which has been seasoned over twenty-five years 
(having been exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 
1862), has a weight which corresponds to 73lb. 150z. per cubic 
foot. Mr. Henry Deane informs me that the rough-barked variety 
is known as “ Mountain Apple” in the Queanbeyan District, New 
South Wales, and the smooth-barked variety takes the name 
“Grey Gum”’ east of the Dividing Range. Diameter, up to 6 
and even 10ft.; height, up to 300oft. 
Victoria and New South Wales, as far north as Braidwood. . 
280. Eucalyptus gracilis, F.v.M., (Syn. E. fruticetorum, F.v.M.; 
partly; 2. calycogona, Turez.; HE. celastrotdes, Turcz.) ; 
N,O., Myrtacess) (BF, iii,-21 1. 
This is a ‘* Mallee,” also sometimes known as a “‘ Desert Gum.” 
Wood hard, heavy, and close in the grain, of a yellowish-grey 
colour, tough, and durable. The Mallees are, however, too small 
to be useful as timber trees. 
